Search This Blog

Friday, November 30, 2012

I've reached 1,000 followers on my blog, so I want you to celebrate with me!

Several of my blogging friends have donated some wonderful prizes to help me celebrate. I guess I should say help YOU to celebrate, since one of you will be the winner!(Please click on the pics below to visit these cool blogs. You'll get lots of great ideas for your classroom just by visiting.)

All you have to do is follow the directions on the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

Here's what you might win.

I'm donating a $25.00 Amazon gift card.

(My activities are always free, so I wanted to do something special for you!)

Angelia at Extra Special Teaching is donating this super cute All About Reindeer Unit.

Tanja from Journey of a Substitute Teacher is giving away her fabulous 12 Days of Holidays Around the World unit.

Leslie at KindergartenWorks has contributed these fabulous Teacher Planning Pages and Binder Tips.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

I love, love, love Tanny McGregor's Comprehension Connections and all her right-on-target ideas for teaching reading. If you haven't read the book, go buy, borrow, or steal a copy NOW! I truly believe it should be required reading for all literacy teachers.

My kids loved her lesson on metacognition using a salad bowl. They are proud they know a "college" word that many adults can't define. Because they know I really, really, really want them to think about their thinking, I can hear them saying "metacognition" when they are talking to their partners in small groups.

To focus our thinking about different topics and skills, we have started posting our work on our classroom door. Look closely and you can see the kiddos' "thinking faces!"

I love that she has her tongue stuck out to the side like she is concentrating so hard!

These thinking samples were based on collective nouns.....a HARD concept for my second graders to get.

Have any of you done lessons based on McGregor's book? I'd love to hear your success stories.

Be sure to check back tomorrow. Several of my blogging friends are helping me celebrate reaching one thousand followers! You might win some great surprises!

And as an early surprise......

I'd like to thank Sarah Picone Hall for being my one hundredth Networked Blog follower!

Sarah, if you will contact me with your email address, I'd like to send you a $10.00 Amazon gift card!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Here's a game to play as part of your whole group instruction to review adjectives and adverbs.

Divide your class into teams. Set a timer for ten minutes. Teams take turns drawing cards. They must tell if the word is an adjective or adverb and use it correctly in a sentence. They get to keep the card if they complete each task correctly. The team with the most cards at the end of ten minutes wins.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

How Santa Got His Job and How Santa Lost His Job tell the stories of how Santa got the best job in the world...and how he lost it!This packet combines activities for both books. Although I published them on my blog last year, I've updated them to include the Common Core ELA Standards and put the activities for both books in one packet.

Just click on the pic above to get double the fun!

To get even more mileage out of the books, I used them both as writing prompts. Before reading, I asked the kiddos to make their own predictions about how Santa first started making and delivering toys. They wrote their own stories, then compared their predictions to the books. We did the same to tell how Santa lost his job.

Monday, November 19, 2012

I posted lots of activities for The Polar Express last year. I've learned a lot about making activities since then, so I've gone back and redone all the activities, added some new ones, correlated them to the Common Core ELA Standards, and put them into one big file.

Your students can practice sequencing activities, matching synonyms, parts of speech, and alphabetical order. I added cards with discussion questions for the book. If you don't have a copy of The Polar Express, you can listen to actor Lou Diamond Phillips reading it online at StoryLineOnline.

Just click on the pic above to get the file. Please leave a comment if you download the activities. I'd love to know what you think.

I've reached the one thousand followers mark, so be looking for details for a giveaway in the next few days!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

One of my sweet kiddos met me in the gym Friday morning with a huge grin on his face. He could not wait to give me a present. The little darling had taken his prized school supply box that he had won in a drawing, added glitter, and magically transformed it into a Treasure Box...complete with treasures!

He asked if I had a husband and if I did he really, really, REALLY wanted me to take my new treasure box to my house and show it to him.

So here are my treasures....keys to my box, Fruit by the Foot, golden beads, a lump of "gold", and a note.

Of course, the note is the most precious treasure of all!

Ask me why I teach.....I can give you a million and one stories like this.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Here's a little preview of some Christmas fun. My class was visited by an "Elf on the Shelf" last year. They couldn't wait to find him every morning. He led us through all sorts of fun activities. The Elf on the Shelf company has a website that includes a Teacher Resources Center. You can register your own elf there. They have been giving away free elves, but that has ended. If you are interested, just click on the picture below to visit their website.

My kids loved the addition regrouping scavenger hunt so much that I made another one for subtraction. Not only do they have to work the problem, they have to tell whether or not they regrouped.

Just click on the pic above to download.Another of their favorites was drawing turkey feathers to determine a problem to solve. Here is another version for subtraction.

Please leave a comment if you use this. I'd like to know what you think.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

I re-cycled the Perfect Pumpkin activity I used during Halloween with a Thanksgiving theme.

I used the same terms I used earlier because the kiddos still aren't able to sort the different types of proper nouns.

They record their sorts on a tri-fold foldable and add their own terms. I let them copy words they find in books or glue in terms from newspapers and magazines.Click on the pic above to download the file.

Monday, November 12, 2012

This time last year I was right at one hundred followers and I thought that was quite an accomplishment. Tonight, I'm looking at 985 followers. I never thought I would be this close to one thousand followers! I'm going to have to plan a giveaway when I reach the thousand mark. Keep looking back for details. I usually only open giveaways to followers of my blog, so if you just browse, please think about becoming a follower. Ready for more regrouping practice?

My kids love these practice stations, especially if I let them use a calculator to check their answers. I'm putting two freebies in one post today since it's so close to Thanksgiving and you'll want to use them soon.

Be sure to click on each of the pics above to download the activities....